Aisle Eighteen
by Sasusc
Summary: Reynolds catches Sam and Jack kissing at the grocery store. SJ


Aisle Eighteen

By: Sasusc

Season: The void between S8 and S9

* * *

Colonel Harry Reynolds watched as his wife peaked around the corner. He had to smile at her antics. He used his special ops training to sneak up behind the woman. She always hated it when he did that. He couldn't help but smile.

"What are you doing?"

She jumped. She twirled around with one hand clutching the front of her white blouse. "Harry!"

"Laura!" he mocked.

"I told you! Never sneak up on me like that!" She threw out a hand and hit him squarely on the chest.

Reynolds smirked down at her. "Honey, mind telling me what you're doing?"

Laura blushed. "Nothing," she lied hastily.

He stepped around her to glance around the corner. There was nothing very interesting happening. There was a woman pushing a full cart towards him pile high with boxes of pizza and cereal. Nothing spy-worthy there. His eyes shifted towards a cluster of giggling teenage girls. They were picking out food coloring and sprinkles while taking quick looks towards the only other people standing in the aisle. He assumed the giggled stemmed from the looks they were throwing towards the kissing couple. The man, he noticed immediately, was using the kiss to as an opportunity to pick up a box of cake mix. He had to smile at the genius of the man's actions.

But none of this would explain his wife's suspicious actions.

He didn't recognize the woman with the cart as she pushed her cart passed him. She, nor his wife, made any sort of signs to indicate they recognized each other. So, no, the woman had not fascinated Laura. The giggling group of teenagers was also an unlikely reason for her fascination. It was entirely possible that she knew the girls as her students, but that would not explain her hiding around the corner to spy on them. She met students outside of the school all the time, or at least it seemed like it. They couldn't go anywhere with a current or former student stopping to say hi. That left the kissing couple. The man, he noticed, had quickly placed the cake mix into the cart next to them.

Well, hello! The blond woman was someone he knew very well, someone he worked with for several years. She slapped at the man's roaming hands. He laughed slightly at her actions. He hadn't realized that Colonel Carter was in another relationship after her breakup with that cop, Pete Shanahan. He never did like that man.

He turned to look down at his wife. "Were you spying on Colonel Carter?"

Laura winkled her nose as she frowned. "Colonel Carter? That's Colonel Carter? Wow, I've always pictured this…"

"This?"

She tucked a piece of her dark hair behind her ear. "Well," she said, gesturing towards the couple, "not that."

A huge smile graced her face. He frowned in confusion. What was that smile for? She looked very happy to learn Carter's name. What was going on? She didn't know who the woman was when she was spying on the couple. That could only mean that she recognized Carter's new man.

Before he could step around his wife to get another look at Carter and the man, Laura wrapped her arms around him. She sighed as she snuggled closer. His arms wrapped around her in reflex.

"I'm happy for them. They're finally together."

"They? Who's finally together?"

"General O'Neill and Colonel Carter," she replied happily.

"O'Neill?"

He must have shouted, because he heard "Reynolds?"

He tugged his wife into the aisle. "General, sir, it's good to see you."

O'Neill and Carter were separated now, standing a foot apart. The distance was a distance the two of them had perfected over the years. He bet that if one measured, the distance was always the same. He had to hide his smile. He always had too when he thought about the distanced they made sure to keep between them at all times.

"Reynolds, what brings you out to these parts?"

Reynolds smiled. "Well, sir, I live around here."

"Oh, right." Jack O'Neill turned to Laura. "Hello, Laura. It's always a pleasure to see you again. I can't say the same for your husband."

Laura laughed. "General O'Neill--"

"Jack. Call me Jack." He turned his head to glance at Carter. "How many people do I have to remind them to call me Jack? Is that too hard for people to remember?"

"Sir," Carter started.

"Ack! Carter? What did I just say? There's no 'sirs' or ranks here."

Reynolds turned his laugh into a cough. God, he missed the man. The SGC hadn't been the same without him.

"Jack, it's nice to see you again," Laura said with a smile. Her glaze shifted towards the woman at his side. "You must be Colonel Samantha Carter. I'm Laura Reynolds." She stuck out her hand. Carter took it.

"Call me Sam." The two women smiled at each other.

"Harry told me about the two of you. I'm happy for you."

Reynolds choked. "Laura!"

"What? Don't tell me you didn't see them kissing, Harry."

"Harry? Were you spying on us?" There was amusement inserted into Jack's question.

Reynolds shifted his glaze to study a product on the shelf. Brownies with chocolate chunks. Mmm, that sounded really good. Maybe he should get Laura to make some later tonight. Right, he was supposed to be answering O'Neill's question. "No, sir. Laura recognized you. She didn't want to interrupt anything."

He missed Laura's eye rolling. He grabbed his wife's hand. "We better be going. Michael's probably wondering where we are. It's nice to see you again, sir. We miss you on base, Colonel. You should stop by soon. Both of you. It hasn't been the same around the base."

Jack smiled. "Yeah, it's on my list of things to do."

"It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Reynolds."

Reynolds paused before dragging his wife away. He gave the couple a small smile. "I've always thought you two would make a great couple. I'm glad I was right. You have my word that I wouldn't say thing about this to anyone."

The general smiled. "I know you wouldn't, which is why I haven't said anything."

Reynolds gave them a quick solute before walking back to their abandon grocery cart. He really was glad that O'Neill and Carter were now free to pursue a relationship with each other. In his opinion, it was about time they did something. SG-3 would have a field day if they only knew. This topic had come up several times while off-world when they had nothing else to discuss. Bosco had pretty much predicted that they would start a relationship after Carter's move to R&D. He squeezed his wife's hand, before grabbing the cart and pushing down the aisle.


End file.
